Say Anything | Steve Harrington |

Ch. 19 Freak

October 30th, 1984
Byers House

"Think fast!"

Pushing Will's door open with my shoulder, I tossed the bag of Skittles onto his lap causing him to quickly drop the green crayon he was using to color in his sketchbook.

"Thanks." He mumbled flatly with a fake smile, though he was quick to drop the mask as his eyes reconnected with the sketch that rested on his lap. "Hey, what's wrong?" I questioned with a frown, quickly moving out of the doorway and towards his bed, kneeling next to the side of his bed to be at eye level with him.

Shrugging off my concern; he remained silent, only keeping his eyes locked on his sketch that sat abandoned on the other side of the bed. Letting out a small sigh, I pinched the edge of the sketchbook in order to get a better view of the drawing only for Will to quickly pull it away from me. Flinching slightly at his reaction, I stared up at him with wide eyes.

"Hey guys, I didn't know what movies to pick. Brought a variety." Jonathan's voice suddenly broke through the air as he moved into the room carrying three different VHS tapes in hand, continuing to flick through the options. "Whatever you want..." Will muttered, shrugging the question off before staring back down at his lap. 

Humming softly to myself, I shot Jonathan a quick glance over my shoulder in the hopes of getting his help. Something had been plaguing our little brother for a while now, a subtle change in him that grew little by little over time. Quickly worsening once school started, but he refused to talk about what was wrong with anyone; including us.

"Alright, what are you guys talking about?" Taking a seat at the foot of the bed, Jonathan traced his eyes over Will before looking back down at me. "I was asking him about what he was working on," I told him as I tilted the sketchbook in our direction to get a look at the page.

Placing my palm in front of my mouth to stop myself from making a sound, Jonathan and I frowned as we looked over the drawing. On the page, Will had drawn himself as a decayed creature standing in the middle of the woods, at the bottom of the page he had underlined the words 'Zombie Boy'.

"Zombie Boy... Who's Zombie Boy?" Jonathan asked as he pulled the sketch toward him. "Me." Will mumbled under his breath, picking at the strands of his blanket. "Are kids calling you that?" I questioned, my frown only deepening when Will didn't respond this time, only continuing to stare down at his lap. "Hey, you can talk to us. You know that, right? Whatever happened, we're here... Will, come on?" Jonathan tried, causing Will's grip to noticeably tighten on his crayon.

"Stop treating me like this." He finally spat out, looking up at the two of us. "Like what?" I asked, placing my hand on his. "Like everyone else. Like there's something wrong with me."

"What are you talking about?" Jonathan tried, glancing back down at me for help in understanding what he meant, but Will continued his rant. "Mom, Dustin, Lucas. Everyone. They all treat me like I'm gonna break. Like I'm a baby. Like I can't handle things on my own. It doesn't help. It just makes me feel like more of a freak."

"You're not a freak." I stated but he quickly shook his head in response. "Yeah, I am." 

"You know what? You're right. You are a freak." Jonathan called out suddenly, sitting cross-legged in front of Will nonchalantly.

"What?" Will asked, sadness growing in his eyes at Jonathan's words. "No, I'm serious. You're a freak. But, do you wanna be normal? Do you wanna be like everyone else?"